Apple Plugs Jailbreak Flaw, Exploit Code Released

About a week after JailbreakMe 2.0 surfaced, Apple has plugged the flaws in iOS that made the Jailbreak possible. If you've not jailbroken your phone, you'll want to get the update ASAP as the exploit code has been released.We covered the jailbreak in the post On iPhone, Jailbreaking, And Security. Essentially, the hack was made possible by two vulnerabilities in the iOS operating system used by the iPhone, iPad, and the iPod Touch.

According to an advisory release by Apple today, both flaws are quite serious and can lead to having your device hacked:

"iOS 4.0.2 Update for iPhone and iPod touch

FreeType
 CVE-ID: CVE-2010-1797
 Available for: iOS 2.0 through 4.0.1 for iPhone 3G and later, iOS 2.1 through 4.0 for iPod touch (2nd generation) and later
 Impact: Viewing a PDF document with maliciously crafted embedded fonts may allow arbitrary code execution. Description: A stack buffer overflow exists in FreeType's handling of CFF opcodes. Viewing a PDF document with maliciously crafted embedded fonts may allow arbitrary code execution. This issue is addressed through improved bounds checking.

IOSurface
 CVE-ID: CVE-2010-2973
 Available for: iOS 2.0 through 4.0.1 for iPhone 3G and later, iOS 2.1 through 4.0 for iPod touch (2nd generation) and later
 Impact: Malicious code running as the user may gain system privileges
 Description: An integer overflow exists in the handling of IOSurface properties, which may allow malicious code running as the user to gain system privileges. This issue is addressed through improved bounds checking.

"

As was previously noted in this security advisory, the flaws made it possible for malicious attackers to gain control of an iOS driven device.

Also today, the security researcher noted for discovering the flaws, who goes by the handle comex, released the exploit code into the wild.

All of this shows why it's not always a convenient idea to jailbreak your phone. If you patch now, your phone is no longer jailbroken. If you don't patch, you're left more vulnerable to attack.

If you haven't jailbroken your phone, however, you'll want to grab the update ASAP by checking for updates and syncing iTunes.

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